The invention relates to providing compensation data and more particularly to processing compensation data to determine and provide predicted compensation data.
Employers, as well as persons seeking jobs, typically want to know how much compensation is appropriate and/or how much others in similar situations are paid. The compensation may take many forms such as base pay, bonus pay, stock, stock options, incentives, benefits (e.g., medical, dental, optical, etc.), and perquisites. How much and in what form a person will be compensated is typically a driving influence in whether the person is interested in obtaining and continuing in a particular job. Thus, compensation information is often desired by individual persons seeking jobs and entities offering jobs.
Data regarding compensation from which a person can accurately assess the compensation provided for a particular job is often not available. For example, while compensation data reporting companies exist, employers may not provide compensation data to these companies at all, or not for a particular job of interest to an employer or a job seeker. Further, data may not be available for positions in a particular region that the seeker is interested in, or for the size of organization, the particular job, or the industry sought by the job seeker. Also, while compensation data may be available, there may be so few matching or relevant data points that the user is unable to determine what compensation should be expected.
In general, in an aspect, the invention provides a method of predicting compensation data, the method including obtaining compensation data, associated with a job category, with at least one datum being associated with each of a plurality of characteristics associated with the job category, determining values of factors, associated with respective ones of the characteristics, and a base value that when used as operands of a function yield estimates of the obtained data such that relationships between the estimates and corresponding obtained compensation data satisfy at least one criterion, and using a portion of the values of factors and the base value by a computer to automatically obtain estimates of compensation data.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following features. Using the portion of the values of factors and the base value includes using each combination of values of factors for which values are determined. The method further includes deriving reference data using the obtained compensation data and the values of factors, and aggregating the reference data to determine the base value. The aggregating comprises averaging the reference data. The method further includes comparing estimated compensation data with obtained compensation data of the same job and having the same associated characteristics as the estimated compensation data, adjusting the values of the factors as appropriate depending upon results of comparing the estimated and obtained compensation data, and repeating the deriving, aggregating, using, comparing, and adjusting until comparing the estimated and obtained compensation data satisfy the at least one criterion.
Implementations of the invention may also include one or more of the following features. The characteristics are scope criteria associated with jobs. The characteristics include at least one of geographic region, size of organization, industry, and seniority. The method further includes comparing indicia associated with obtained data and estimated data respectively. The indicia are of estimated and obtained data. The relationships are differences between estimated and obtained data associated with the same job and same characteristics. The at least one criterion is that the differences are within a magnitude limit. The relationships are ratios between estimated and obtained data associated with the same job and same characteristics. The at least one criterion is that the ratios are within a magnitude limit.
Implementations of the invention may also include one or more of the following features. The obtained data are associated with at least two job categories, and the method further includes determining a job-to-job factor relating compensation data of a first job category to compensation of a second job category, and applying the job-to-job factor to a selected datum of the first job category to determine a datum of the second job category. The selected and determined data are compensation data. The selected and determined data are values of factors. The method further includes combining the estimates of compensation data and the obtained compensation data. The combining includes weighting at least one of the estimates of compensation data and the obtained compensation data. The method further includes transmitting indicia of the estimates of compensation data via a communications network to a destination for display at the destination.
In general, in another aspect, the invention provides a system for estimating compensation data, the system including a communications network interface configured to be coupled to a communications network, a storage device configured to store compensation data, and a processor coupled to the network interface and to the storage device and configured to: calculate a base value associated with the stored compensation data by solving a relationship for reference data using the stored compensation data and predetermined values of training factors associated with scope criteria of the compensation data, the relationship relating the reference data, compensation data, and the values of the training factors, the processor further configured to calculate the base value by combining the reference data to determine the base value; and determine estimated compensation data by solving the relationship for the compensation data using values of the training factors and the base value.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The processor is further configured to compare the estimated compensation data and the stored compensation data and to provide indicia of the comparison. The processor is further configured to re-calculate the base value and re-determine estimated compensation data using different values of factors if relationships between the estimated compensation data and the stored compensation data fail to satisfy at least one predetermined criterion. The relationships are differences and the at least one predetermined criterion is whether the differences are within a threshold value. The relationships are ratios and the at least one predetermined criterion is whether the ratios are within a threshold value.
Implementations of the invention may also include one or more of the following features. The processor is further configured to determine initial values of the factors by combining compensation data points associated with a particular job to determine a neutral data point and comparing the neutral data point with a data points associated with the scope criteria. The system further includes a user interface coupled to the processor and configured to provide values of the factors. The processor is further configured to combine the estimated and stored compensation data. The processor is further configured to provide the combined compensation data to the network interface. The processor is configured to receive indicia of weighting of the stored and estimated compensation data and to provide weighted combinations of the stored and estimated compensation data to the network interface for display on a display device coupled to the communications network.
In general, in another aspect, the invention provides a method of predicting compensation data, the method including collecting compensation data for each of a plurality of jobs, at least one datum being associated with each of a respective plurality of associated scope criteria for each job, deriving reference data for each of the plurality of jobs in accordance with a function relating collected compensation data, the reference data, and respective training factors indicative of the respective associated scope criteria, aggregating the reference data associated with each of a plurality of jobs to determine respective aggregated reference data, using a portion of the respective training factors and the respective aggregated reference data to determine respective estimated compensation data for each of the plurality jobs, comparing the respective estimated compensation data with collected compensation data of the same job and having the same associated training factors, iterating the respective training factors as appropriate, and repeating the deriving, aggregating, using, comparing, and iterating until the compared estimated and collected compensation data satisfy at least one comparison criterion.
Implementations of the invention may include one or more of the following features. The using determines estimated compensation data for all combinations of associated training factors for each of the jobs. The method further includes determining at least one job-to-job training factor associating compensation data of a first job to compensation data of a second job, the method further comprising estimating compensation data of the first job for a combination of training factors using estimated compensation data of the second job with the same combination of training factors.
Various aspects of the invention may provide one or more of the following advantages. Compensation data may be estimated for jobs. Estimated compensation data for a job may be derived from actual data for one or more other jobs having one or more characteristics that make the actual compensation data relevant to the job whose compensation data are estimated. Answers to compensation-data-related questions may be provided in the absence of actual data providing the answers. Compensation data may be provided to inquirers indicating on how much actual data the provided data are based. Actual and estimated compensation data may be combined to provide hybrid compensation data. Compensation data can be estimated in a methodological and consistent manner. Compensation data estimates can be done in a consistent manner and can be determined and provided to users with quick turnaround times from data collection. Anomalies in surveys and other market compensation reports can be mitigated in a consistent manner so that collected and estimated data are individually and collectively consistent and reasonable.
These and other advantages of the invention, along with the invention itself, will be more fully understood after a review of the following figures, detailed description, and claims.